The Revisions of Chicago Public School with CPS Lives
Please click the link below to enter the virtual gallery.
https://revisionsofchicagopublicschools.com/
May 29th - June 22nd, 2020
CPS Lives and 062 are happy to present (Re)Visions of Chicago Public Schools, our first virtual group show of works by 18 CPS Lives artists. The landscape of public education is ever changing, and the role of artists as narrators is becoming increasingly important in documenting these stories. Our artists are committed to showing honest depictions of public education and of the youth of Chicago. We are dedicated to taking an active role in the future by helping shape the youth arts community into a positive and groundbreaking space for experimentation and freedom. This is apparent in the bodies of work in the exhibition, and the new virtual space where it is shown.
Participating Artists
Marzena Abrahamik, Suzette Bross, Scott Fortino, Jim Iska, Janet Mesic-Mackie, John Preus, Doug McGoldrick, Edra Soto, Eileen Ryan, Lynn Renee Persin, Jeff Phillips, Justin Schmitz, Matt Siber, Krista Wortendyke, Kelly Costello & Karishma Kalpesh Dotia and Kioto Aoki & Jan Tichy
JOHN PREUS & EDRA SOTO IN CONVERSATION WITH STEPHANIE CRISTELLO
This panel discussion was recorded on the opening night of our online exhibition
Video courtesy of EXPO CHICAGO.
John developed his multidisciplinary practice from roots in both painting and furniture-making, which became entwined in his collaborative work with Material Exchange in graduate school at the University of Chicago. He grew up in Tanzania, to Lutheran missionaries, which influenced how he thinks about materials, appropriation, the possibility of shared ethical norms, and the clash of cultures. Preus is also a fabricator for other artists and designers, which has influenced his thoughts on authorship and collaboration. Preus was the 2019 - 2020 Interpreter in Residence at the Smart Museum, He was recently a Kaplan resident at Northwestern University, a 2016 nominee for the US Artist Fellowship, and was included in New City's Chicago Art 50 in 2016. He was the 2013-2014 Jackman-Goldwasser resident at the Hyde Park Art Center, a 2015 Propeller Fund recipient, a 2014 Efroymson Fellow in sculpture and installation, 2014's first place winner of the Maker grant. Selected solo exhibitions include: The Bride Stripped Bare, Even: Addenda to the Historical Record at Pentimenti gallery in 2018, The Beast: Herd Mentality at the Montserrat College of Art, (2018) John Preus: New Work at the Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco (2016), The Relative Appetite of Hungry Ghosts at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago (2016), John Preus On Drawing at the Heilbronn Kunstverein in Germany (2014), The Beast at The Hyde Park Art Center (2013), Slow Sound at the Experimental Sound Studio, (2013).
Puerto Rican born, Edra Soto is an interdisciplinary artist, and co-director of the outdoor project space THE FRANKLIN. Her recent projects, which are motivated by civic and social actions, prompt viewers to reconsider cross-cultural dynamics, the legacy of colonialism, and personal responsibility. Recent exhibitions include Albright-Knox Northland, NY and The Momentary, AR. She attended residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME; Beta-Local; Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Headlands Center for the Arts; Project Row Houses; and Art Omi. Recent awards include the inaugural Foundwork Artist Prize and a commission from the Millennium Park Foundation. She recently completed three MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund exchanges and exhibitions in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Brazil. She is a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Stephanie Cristello is a curator, writer, and contemporary art critic living in Chicago, IL. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of THE SEEN, Chicago's International Journal of Contemporary & Modern Art, currently serves as the Artistic Director of EXPO CHICAGO, and Director / Curator at Chicago Manual Style. She is currently the Guest Curator, Kunsthal Aarhus (2020–21) and Curatorial Advisor, Busan Biennale (2020).